LIV Golf has denied a report that former TaylorMade CEO Mark King is being eyed for Greg Norman’s potential replacement as chief executive officer of the rival Saudi-backed league, according to a report.
King, who currently serves as the CEO of Taco Bell, was being discussed for the role, which would result in a move “upstairs” for current CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman, The Telegraph reported Thursday.
Dustin Johnson of the USA, Mark King, CEO of TaylorMade Golf, and Sergio Garcia of Spain pose for photos after hitting balls into the Thames River during the Adidas Paints the Town Red Adidas London Golf Challenge at the Tower Bridge on July 23, 2012, in London, England.
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
But LIV Golf denied the report in a statement, calling it “patently false.”
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“Greg Norman is our CEO and Commissioner. Any suggestion that changes are being made to Greg’s title or role is patently false,” LIV’s managing director Majed Al-Sorour said, via Sports Illustrated.
Greg Norman, CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf, being introduced to the crowd during the team championship stroke-play round of the LIV Golf Invitational – Miami at Trump National Doral Miami on October 30, 2022, in Doral, Florida.
(Eric Espada/Getty Images)
It was reported by The Telegraph on Thursday that Norman, the current CEO and commissioner of the rival-Saudi backed league, was potentially being “moved upstairs”
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LIV Golf has already announced an expansion for next year, growing the schedule from eight events to 14. Norman has spoken highly of the circuit’s inaugural season but added that he’s looking forward to what’s next.
“LIV has only just begun. From my perspective, it was one heck of a year. It was one heck of a beta season. It was one heck of a launch. And I don’t think there has ever been any new sports league that in its first year accomplished as much as what LIV Golf has accomplished,” he told ESPN earlier this month.
LIV CEO and commissioner Greg Norman high-fives the fans as he walks to the first tee during the final round of the LIV Golf Invitational Series Chicago at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
(Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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“I’m extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished. Our long-held dream of creating a league that puts golfers and fans first has arrived. Professional golfers are finally getting paid the way they always should have been paid. Fans are getting new and more exciting golf. The experience at our events is [like] nothing else. It’s fun and that’s the way golf should be. I can’t wait for next year, to be honest with you. I’m already preparing for it with my entire team.”
King spent more than 30 years with TaylorMade, first as a sales rep before eventually being named president in 1999 and then CEO in 2002. He moved on to Adidas, where he served as president of North America from 2014 to 2018.